Finds from the Emerald Isle | Nía Natural Beauty.

When Lisa Eldridge says you need a cleansing balm, you best be believin' you need a cleansing balm. So, when Lisa Eldridge says you need a cleansing balm, of course I'm all about supporting Irish beauty brands. When Nía reached out to me a while back and asked me to try out one of their best selling products I was all about it. I try and keep my skincare routine as natural and gentle as possible, and after having used their cleansing balm for most of April and all of May I knew I had to feature this in a Finds from the Emerald Isle! 

Before I get into the product itself, Nía specialize in natural beauty and skincare products for all different needs. They're also 100% Irish, so it feels so nice putting something on my mug at the end of the day that was made practically down the road. P.S. if you're like me, and were curious (but equally was crap at Irish in secondary school) Nía means "Radiance" #TheMoreYouKnow

Nía Natural Beauty.

The Calendula and Orange Blossom Cleansing Balm is a solid cleanser/balm free of parabens, synthetic fragrance, mineral oil... that kinda thing. The packaging is simple but super cute and has a little "you're amazing" on the box which I thought was lovely - it's all about the little details, guys. It comes with 3 cleansing cloths (100% bio-degradable) and a little wooden spatula for scooping out the product. I found the cleansing cloths a bit too thin and flimsy to use, but others might find them nice to have. I personally prefer to use this cleanser just with a warm thick face cloth from good aul' Penneys. 

Finds from the Emerald Isle | Nima Brush.

You can never have too many makeup brushes, right? If you're as lazy as my when cleaning them then that is 100% the case. When Nima Brushes asked me if I'd like to try some of their collection I jumped at the chance - with my buy Irish based series, and so many of my favourite beauty bloggers talking about Nima brushes, I knew it was something I'd want to test out and tell ye all about. Also, when a good friend of mine (who is working for MAC and owns about 234235643 makeup brushes... yano, roughly) said she loves them too I knew I needed some! This is gonna be a photo and word heavy blog post, but if you're interested in buying some great quality (and Irish!) brushes then stay with meeeee.

Before I get stuck into the actual brushes themselves, Nima Brush was founded by Niamh Martin, an Irish makeup artist. With her job in mind, I think these brushes are equally fantastic for the professional, the makeup fanatic or just a beginner. The brush range is impressively extensive and are both functional and beautiful (blue and gold handles for the Artistic Collection, white and dark Rose Gold for the Elite) - when my mother saw the brushes on my vanity her exact words were "OHMYGOD THEY ARE SO PRETTY WHERE DID YOU GET THEM I NEED ONE THEY LOOK SO NICE" and she is not a makeup-y person at all.

Nima brushes have all grounds covered with an Artistic Collection, the Elite Collection, Starter Collection, custom bundles and travel tubes for your makeup brushes. The Artistic Collection alone has over 20 individual brushes ranging from €10-22 which is insaaaane given the price of MAC brushes (which Nima has some great dupes for!) and even Real Techniques Bold Metals found in Boots. They also do a brush of the month where one brush from the range is half price which is absolutely fantastic if you were looking to try one out! They're also constantly having discounts (with makeup students getting 10% off all year round) so be sure to follow them on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date with their deals! 

On top of the reasonable prices and beautiful handles, they have such a unique quality whereby Niamh has actually named each brush after someone in her life who has helped her throughout her career. Such a small but beautiful touch, and if you can find your name among the group (which I did!) then its even more lovely. If the names aren't your thing, though, they do have them without tooooo.